So it's not quite done yet...but it's almost to the point where I can light the torch! I'm lucky enough to have fallen into some space in a massive warehouse full of all kinds of artsy people. The plan is to put walls up around my portion of the space, but for now, it's ok that it doesn't have walls (although the oxygen concentrator sounds kind of like Darth Vader which makes me feel noisy). I'm going to type this out separated by the days I took pictures - I started putting things together at the beginning of May and finally have all the parts to start torching.
Here's the beginning! It's kind of grimy, and there was a mini fridge with a sticker that said "loser" on the front. I turned the fridge around because I didn't want to deal with taking stickers off of it at the time and I wanted to send a picture to my mom.
Second update: got some tables! They're old shipping tables, which means that they're really sturdy. They're also very covered in tape. I put them back together (had to take them apart to put them in my car) and then I couldn't move them alone, which means that they're stuck over there until I get somebody stronger to help. Also, cricket and torch arrived! Those ones I can lift.
Third update: Disaster? I got my concentrator! UPS...really got my concentrator. It got cracked on the front even though it was packed really well, because apparently "THIS SIDE UP" and "FRAGILE" were challenges.
It seems to work even though the casing is cracked about 2'' on each side of the sticking out half dome portion, but I reached out to Salt City Glass just in case, as I haven't used a concentrator and wanted to make sure it wasn't ruined. Robert is great - ridiculously responsive and so focused on customer satisfaction. I went with Salt City Glass mainly based on what I'd read about their customer service, and so far, I'm so glad I did! I think it'll be fine despite the cracks in the case, but I know that if it didn't work (or ends up not working) it'd be completely fixed.
Update 4: Today! There's an old sandblasting (?) area in the section of the building that is mine. It's a little disappointing since I don't get a full wall of windows, but it is kind of perfect for ventilation and propane storage since it's outside of the building and has openings to the outside without being totally outside.
The area was boarded off and spray-foamed shut, so I had to take off the boarded up area and clean out what turned out to be the world's biggest, oldest litterbox (I wore a mask to make sure I wasn't breathing in anything terrible, but I don't know that I will ever feel truly clean again). After scouring, it looked like this (minus the vent fan and the tank). It's got two holes in the sides, a nonworking/unplugged fan near the top, and a gap at the lowest point in the floor (it looks like this was some sort of hinged door, but it won't open easily. That's ok, as I don't need it to open - the gap is nice, as any propane leak would dissipate to outside instead of building up at the bottom of the metal cabinet). I'll be hanging my exhaust fan opposite the propane tank after cutting the right side hole a little bigger (it should fit perfectly into the space and be easy to mount to the wooden board below the hole) and running rigid pipe into the studio space through the wall of the sandblasting area, but not through the plywood "door". I'll be putting some sort of plastic flange on the door to make sure it is airtight so the propane is sealed off, and I've created a hinge to keep the plywood up, but movable in order to turn the propane off and on. Oh, and the propane tank is supposed to be horizontal as it is a 10 gallon tank mainly used for RVing - it isn't conventional, but it fits perfectly and is much easier for me to reach than a vertical tank.
All I've got left to do is make sure the propane is completely sealed off from the inside area, figure out if I can fix the regulator I have (I wasn't sent the right t-shaped pressure knob thing), put up the fan and ducting, and knock out one of the left window panes/replace it with plexiglass and fans for air intake. Here's a panoramic picture of the current setup, which makes things look messier and smaller than they are. Oxygen concentrator is to the left, between the tables and away from the propane: